Raphael Samuel
Encyclopedia
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, described by Stuart Hall
Stuart Hall (cultural theorist)
Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist and sociologist who has lived and worked in the United Kingdom since 1951. Hall, along with Richard Hoggart and Raymond Williams, was one of the founding figures of the school of thought that is now known as British Cultural Studies or The Birmingham School of...
as "one of the most outstanding, original intellectuals of his generation" . He was professor of history at the University of East London
University of East London
The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
at the time of his death and also taught at Ruskin College from 1962 until his death.
He was born into a Jewish family in London. His father, Barnett Samuel was a solicitor and his mother, Minna Nierenstein, was a composer and partner in Jewish publishers Shapiro, Valentine.. Samuel joined the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
when a teenager and left following the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary in 1956 .
He got a scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
where Samuel became a member of the Communist Party Historians Group
Communist Party Historians Group
A subdivision of the Communist Party of Great Britain , from 1946-1956 the Communist Party Historians Group formed a highly influential cluster of British Marxist historians, who contributed to "history from below." Famous members included such leading lights of 20th-century British history as...
, alongside Christopher Hill, E. P. Thompson
E. P. Thompson
Edward Palmer Thompson was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the British radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class...
and others. He co-founded the journal, Past and Present
Past & Present
Past & Present is a British historical academic journal, which was a leading force in the development of social history. It was founded in 1952 by a combination of Marxist and non-Marxist historians. The Marxist historians included members of the Communist Party Historians Group, including E. P...
in 1952, and pioneered the study of working-class history. He founded the Partisan Cafe in 1956 in Soho, London as a meeting place for the British New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
..
He founded the History Workshop
History Workshop Journal
The History Workshop is a movement founded by Raphael Samuel. Its main role was to promote the historiographical tradition known variously as History from below, the history of everyday life, or simply the people's history...
movement at trade union connected Ruskin College, Oxford
Ruskin College, Oxford
Ruskin College is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is named after the essayist and social critic John Ruskin and specialises in providing educational opportunities for adults with few or no qualifications...
as history from below.
Samuel's archive is held at Bishopsgate Library
Bishopsgate Library
Bishopsgate Library is an independent, charity-funded library located within the Bishopsgate Institute in the City of London.The library's particular strengths include printed and archive material on London, freethought and the labour movement, developed by Charles Goss, librarian from 1897 to 1941...
.
After his 1996 death, the East London History Centre of the University of East London
University of East London
The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
was renamed the Raphael Samuel History Centre, in honor of his role in creating it. The Centre was established to investigate and document the history of London
History of London
London, the capital of the United Kingdom , has a recorded history that goes back over 2,000 years. During this time, it has grown to become one of the most significant financial and cultural capitals of the world. It has experienced plague, devastating fire, civil war, aerial bombardment and...
since the eighteenth century. Consistent with Samuel's belief that historical studies should extend outside the academy, the Centre encourages research in the community, and the publication of materials ranging from monographs by established scholars to student dissertations and ‘Notes and Queries’ features in the local press . Since September 2009 the Raphael Samuel Centre is a partnership between the University of East London, Birkbeck College and the Bishopsgate Institute
Bishopsgate Institute
Bishopsgate Institute is a cultural institute, located on Bishopsgate, in proximity of Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields market, London, England.Bishopsgate Institute was established in 1895...
.
In an obituary in the journal Radical Philosophy
Radical Philosophy
Radical Philosophy is a British academic journal of critical theory and continental philosophy, appearing six times a year. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movements of the 1960s, in philosophy...
, Carolyn Steedman describes Samuel's work:
Like Raymond WilliamsRaymond WilliamsRaymond Henry Williams was a Welsh academic, novelist and critic. He was an influential figure within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the mass media and literature are a significant contribution to the Marxist critique of culture and the arts...
and Edward ThompsonE. P. ThompsonEdward Palmer Thompson was a British historian, writer, socialist and peace campaigner. He is probably best known today for his historical work on the British radical movements in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in particular The Making of the English Working Class...
, he produced his historical work in interaction with working-class adult returners to education...The standard charge against the history Samuel inspired was of a fanatical empiricism and a romantic merging of historians and their subjects in crowded narratives, in which each hard-won detail of working lives, wrenched from the cold indifference of posterity, is piled upon another, in a relentless rescue of the past. When he was himself subject to these charges, it was presumably his fine — and immensely detailed — accounts of the labour process that critics had in mind. But it was meaning rather than minutiae that he cared about.
Raphael Samuel was interred at Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery
Highgate Cemetery is a cemetery located in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery....
.
Selected bibliography
- Village Life and Labour (1975)
- Miners, Quarrymen and Saltworkers (1977)
- People's History and Socialist Theory (1981)
- East End Underworld (1981)
- Culture, Ideology and Politics (1983)
- Theatres of the Left: 1880-1935 (1985)
- The Lost World of Communism (1986)
- The Enemy Within: The Miners' Strike of 1984 (1987)
- Patriotism: The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity (1989)
- Patriotism (Volume 2): Minorities and Outsiders (1989)
- The Myths We Live By (1990)
- Theatres of Memory: Volume 1: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture (1996)
- Theatres of Memory: Volume 2: Island Stories: Unravelling Britain (1997)
- The Lost World of British Communism (2006)
External links
- A short bio for Raphael Samuel on Schoolnet.co.uk
- Profile in Radical PhilosophyRadical PhilosophyRadical Philosophy is a British academic journal of critical theory and continental philosophy, appearing six times a year. It was established in 1972 with the purpose of providing a forum for the theoretical work which was emerging in the wake of the radical movements of the 1960s, in philosophy...
- website of the Raphael Samuel History Centre
- content description of Samuel's archive at Bishopsgate Library
- Raphael Samuel History Centre and Research at UEL